Tech

Things are starting to look really, really sad for Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. First, Google leaves him at the altar of their search advertising deal, rendering him without a mighty groom to fend off a Microsoft takeover.

Next, he suddenly changes his mind in favor of a Microsoft takeover, denying everything he fought for through most of the year.

Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney on Friday, Ballmer said: “Look, we made an offer, we made another offer. It was clear that Yahoo didn’t want to sell the business to us, and we moved on.”

Ballmer said other deals with Yahoo had also been unsuccessful. “We tried at one point to do a partnership around search, not advertising. That didn’t work either, so we moved on, and they moved on.”

“We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition,” he said. “I don’t know why they would be either, frankly.”

When discussing the failed takeover, which if successful would have been one of the biggest takeovers in IT history, Ballmer said “they turned us down at $33 a share, move on.”

What’s worse than throwing away your dignity as founder of the world’s second largest Internet giant? Having it thrown back at you by the twenty-fourth employee of the third largest Internet giant.

I’m all for an independent Yahoo. Google rules search and advertising, but Yahoo still has an awesome portal and great APIs. I cheered when you retook the company you created, unseating Hollywood dinosaur Terry Semel as CEO. I cheered when you fought off Microsoft’s hostile takeover bid earlier this year by forging an alliance with Google.